At first glance, NimTeens, a new non-fungible token (NFT) collection by generative artist Bryan Brinkman, looks like a tribute to adolescence. A followup to his January 2021 project NimBuds, the new 400-edition project shows his signature cloud characters aging up in awkward fashion to take their school photos.

But the collection represents more than that, Brinkman told CoinDesk, and offers a larger commentary on how fast the NFT ecosystem that has grown – sometimes clumsily – over the past two years.

"The common joke in the Web3 space is time moves at a rapid speed and often a week can feel like a month,” said Brinkman.

In continuing his nephologic storyline, his cloud “babies” have now matured into “awkward teenagers,” with new traits like peach fuzz, acne and oversized glasses.

“Just like in real life, some kids have bigger spurts than others, some have acne and pimples, but each is unique and grows in an endearing way,” he explained.

Brinkman was one of the first 10 artists on the generative art platform Art Blocks, which has seen explosive growth in recent months. Artists like Dmitri Cherniak, Tyler Hobbs and Art Blocks founder Snowfro have helped to revive the artform and popularize generative art in the NFT space.

NimBuds, which features mischievous cloud faces attached to rainbow strings, has racked up 1,155 ETH, or about $1.8 million in secondary sales. At the time of writing, its floor price is 3.2 ETH, or just over $5,000. The playful NFTs have been sold by auction houses such as Christies and Sotheby’s and were even featured in a "Saturday Night Live" skit parodying NFT projects in March 2021.

Brinkman wanted to honor the original NimBuds token holders in his new drop as he built out the next part of his chronological storyline. Similar to Art Blocks’ Friendship Bracelet collection that topped charts on OpenSea last week, Brinkman offered a free mint to NimBuds owners before offering them at a Dutch Auction on Friday for about 0.3 ETH, or about $470 per token.

NimTeens opened up its mint on Jan. 13, pledging 10% of sales to suicide-prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project. According to data from OpenSea, the project has already raked in 138 ETH trading volume, or roughly $220,000 in sales. Its floor price is currently 0.44 ETH, or about $700 at the time of writing.

Brinkman attributed the success of his projects to a growing interest in generative art and the creative freedom that NFTs present to artists.

"The Web3 and NFT space has changed dramatically in the two years since we released NimBuds,” said Brinkman. “Art Blocks has grown into one of the most respected and profitable projects in the ecosystem, generative characters took off and became the most notable style of the space, and generative art has become appreciated in auction houses and museums."